Seven at one blow.

• Author: Robinson, Dave
• Position: ECONOMICALLY SPEAKING

Remember the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale about the tailor who killed seven flies with one blow? He was so proud that he got one of those plastic name tags, and under his name he wrote "seven at one blow." Then he went to a bioeconomy meeting in Red Rock last month.

"What a wonderful idea!" said conference organizers. "But exactly how do you solve seven problems for Northern Ontario with one policy?"

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The organizers thought the tailor was a consultant from the U.S. they were prepared to listen to anything he said. They introduced him to the crowd, saying, "Our next speaker has a plan that will solve Northern Ontario's seven deadly problems. Give him a big hand!" They put a microphone in his hand. The audience grew very quiet.

The tailor realized that if he didn't say something they would make him pay for his own lunch.

"Well," he began, "let's think. What are the seven problems we need to solve?" And then he tried to think.

And the people in the audience made a fatal mistake. Because he seemed to be listening, they answered his question. "Jobs!" said one. "Energy costs!" yelled another. The problems tumbled out. "A green transportation system! High taxes! Entrepreneurship! Our children are leaving! Forestry is a disaster!"

The tailor held up his hand because he hadn't even kept count of the all problems he was hearing. "Do you all have the same problems?" he asked. And the whole crowd yelled "YES!"

"So you need one plan for all your communities?" And the whole crowd yelled "YES!"

"So you need one plan that helps with all these problems?". And the whole crowd yelled "YES!"

The tailor decided to put all of the problems into one sentence. "Could you perhaps make some jobs for your children by using some of your unused forest resources to reduce the cost of heating and transportation for your local governments so that you can reduce taxes?

"Will that work?" And for a long time people in the audience kept jumping up to explain how easy it would be to produce pellets from wood waste and to heat hospitals and homes and schools and businesses.

They told him that the Finns do it and the Norwegians do it and the technology is well developed. They even told him that some pellet plants could produce biodiesel and all the trucks and cars in Northern Ontario could run on renewable fuels.

"That...